Smaller than the Ultra Mini Ugly, tinier than Lil Other Brother, Baby D is the cutest just-hatched duckling you’ll ever want to give away. The latest duck I’ve been making for The Little Yellow Duck Project, Baby D is a really small version of Darryl – a duck and with only 11 rounds for the body and head and another 2 for the beak, he works up in well under an hour, like a half hour or less. Like some of the other mini ducks, Baby D is a great size to be used as a bag charm, backpack clip, or key chain.

Materials:

Just a little worsted weight yarn in 2 colors. (The head and body are worked in one color. The beak is in another color and needs very little yarn.)
6mm black safety eyes
E crochet hook (3.5 mm)
Tapestry Needle
Polyfill Stuffing

Notes:

Head and Body (make 1 in main color):

Round 1: Ch 7, Starting with second chain from hook, 5SC, 4 SC in same stitch, now crochet back up the other side, 5SC, inc (last increase is in the first chain) (16)

Round 2: 14SC, inc, SC (17)

Round 3: inc, 14SC, inc, SC (19)

Round 4: inc, 16SC, inc, SC (21)

Round 5: inc, 8SC, 3SCtog, 8SC, 3SCtog (you’ll include 2 stitches from the next round in your last 3SCtog) (20)

Round 6: Flatten in half, 6SS through both sides starting by slip stitching through the next stitch and the stitch before the SC3tog you just made, stuff (not a full round, you will be slip stitching the top together through both sides to finish the body, there will be 5 stitches left unworked, that is where you will be working the head in the next round)

Final tweaks made and Darryl is finally ready to be posted! Darryl is the second duck from Duck Evolution and works up in an hour or less. I’m making a few more this morning getting ready to release them at the Rubber Duck Derby in Tarrytown, NY today as part of The Little Yellow Duck Project. Seems like the perfect event to be releasing crocheted ducks into the wild.

Materials:

A little worsted weight yarn in 2 colors. (The head and body are worked in one color. The beak is in another color and needs very little yarn.)
9mm black safety eyes
G crochet hook (4.0 mm)
Tapestry Needle
Polyfill Stuffing

Round 9: Flatten in half, SS13 through both sides starting by slip stitching through the next stitch and the stitch before the SC3tog you just made, stuff (not a full round, you will be slip stitching the top together through both sides to finish the body, there will be 7 stitches left unworked, that is where you will be working the head in the next round)

By day I’m a Data Analyst, so naturally I was wondering which duck pattern had resulted in the highest percentage of reports on The Little Yellow Duck Project website.

In the below chart of ducks released vs ducks reported, you’ll see the recently released pattern Other Brother Darryl has proven to be the most reported both by percentage and quantity. Duck patterns where I only made and released 1 or 2 are not included in the chart.

I would note that by the time I started making Other Brother Darryls I had become much more strategic about where I left ducks. Also, all of Other Brother Darryl’s tags included the handwritten message Where did you find me? Add me to the map at www.TheLittleYellowDuckProject.org on the back of the tag.

To be fair to Love Bug who sits at the bottom of the list with none reported was handed out at the Rehab/Nursing/Hospice facility my aunt was staying at where internet access would have been more limited and patients may have had a difficult time even reading the tag.

While in the middle of little yellow duck mass production yesterday, I couldn’t resist temptation and created a half size of Other Brother Darryl. The pattern worked out just as imagined and Lil Other Brother was born. This one works up in a half hour or less so you can make even more for The Little Yellow Duck Project. Because its smaller, it’s also a great size for a bag clip or keychain.

Other Brother Darryl with 2 Lil Other Brothers

Materials:

A little worsted weight yarn in 2 colors. (The head and body are worked in one color. The beak is in another color and needs very little yarn.)
9mm black safety eyes
G crochet hook (4.0 mm)
Tapestry Needle
Polyfill Stuffing

Notes:

Head and Body (make 1 in main color):

Round 1: Ch 7, Starting with second chain from hook, 5SC, 3SC in last chain, now crochet back up the other side 4SC, 2SC in last chain (14)

Round 2: 6SC, inc, 7SC (15)

Round 3: 7SC, inc, 7SC (16)

Round 4: 8SC, inc, 7SC (17)

Round 5: 8SC, inc, 8SC (18)

Round 6: SC3tog, 5SC, SC3tog, flatten in half, SS4 through both sides starting by slip stitching through the next stitch and the stitch before the SC3tog you just made, stuff (not a full round, you will be slip stitching the top together through both sides to finish the body, there will be 5 stitches left unworked, that is where you will be working the head in the next round)

After completing Round 6

Slip Stitch through both sides

Round 7: (SC, inc) 3x (The last inc will be in the SS connecting the 2 sides) (9)

To celebrate Little Yellow Duck Day (which was officially yesterday), I am finally posting the patterns for Larry, Darryl, and Other Brother Darryl. They all work up in an hour or less and are great for The Little Yellow Duck Project. Hopefully you’ll make a bunch and spread them all over the world.

Materials:

A little worsted weight yarn in 2 colors. (The head and body are worked in one color. The beak is in another color and needs very little yarn.)
12mm black safety eyes
G crochet hook (4.0 mm)
Tapestry Needle
Polyfill Stuffing

Notes:

Head and Body (make 1 in main color):

Round 1: Ch 11, Starting with second chain from hook, 9SC, 3SC in last chain, now crochet back up the other side 8SC, 2SC in last chain (22)

Round 2: 10SC, inc, 11SC (23)

Round 3: 11SC, inc, 11SC (24)

Round 4: 12SC, inc, 11SC (25)

Round 5: 12SC, inc, 12SC (26)

Round 6: 13SC, inc, 12SC (27)

Round 7: 13SC, inc, 13SC (28)

Round 8: 15SC, inc, 12SC (29)

Round 9: 15SC, inc, 13SC (30)

Round 10: SC3tog, 12SC, SC3tog, SS9 through both sides, stuff (not a full round, you will be slip stitching the top together through both sides to finish the body, there will be a few stitches left unworked, that is where you will be working the head in the next round)

After completing Round 10

Slip Stitch through both sides

Round 11: (SC, inc) 4x (The last inc will be in the SS connecting the 2 sides) (12)

Ugly – a cute little duck was created last year for The Little Yellow Duck Project. It works up in a little over an hour. I’ve made the Ugly pattern in 3 sizes. This is the largest size, but the example pictures used in the pattern are from the Lil Ugly.

Materials:

A little worsted weight yarn in 2 colors. If you use a thinner weight yarn use a C hook or smaller. If you use a bulky or super bulky weight yarn, use a J hook. The Ugly is cute in all weights of yarn.
9mm black safety eyes (12mm if using bulky or super bulky weight yarn, make French knots instead if using a very thin yarn)
C or E crochet hook (2.5mm or 3.5mm). The smaller hook will make a smaller Ugly.
Tapestry Needle

Flatten the head. Your working yarn will be on the left towards the front. Add plastic safety eyes between rows 10 and 10 11 sc apart.

Stuff

Round 17: (SC, inc) 6x (18)

Round 18: (2SC, inc) 6x (24)

Rounds 19-20: SC around (24)

Round 20: (2SC, dec) 6x (18)

Round 21: (SC, dec) 6x (12)

Round 22 (and part of 23): 2SC, dec, (the dec should be in the front center, if it is not, SC until you get to the front center), change to contrasting color (do not cut the main color yet), FLO for the rest of the round: in the first stitch (SS, HDC, 2DC) in the next stitch (DC, HDC), 6 SC, in the next stitch (HDC, DC), next stitch (2DC, HDC, SS)

Final Round (starts a few stitches into round 19): Change back to main color (you can cut the contrasting color), SC through both loops, 5 dec in unworked back loop from last round, FO leaving a long tail. (6)

Stuff

Pull the loose end in contrasting color where the feet ended into the body and tie a knot with the other end of the yarn from the feet. Pull it into the body.

Weave tail from main color through final round and pull tight. Tie knot and pull into body.

Beak (make 1 in contrasting color):

Round 1: CH 1, 6 FSC, turn and SC up other side (12)
Rounds 2-3: SC around (12)
FO leaving long tail
Sew beak onto head. I like to use 3 or 4 longer stitches between the eyes when sewing on the beak.

Wings (make 2 in main color):

You will be working on both sides of the chain.
CH 5, SC in the second chain from hook, 2SC, 3SCinc, continue to work up the other side of the chain working over your end, 3SC, inc (11)
SS into the first stich and FO
Pull both ends tight

The Ultra Mini Ugly – a teeny tiny lil duck is the smallest size Ugly. The little brother of A Lil Ugly, the Ultra Mini Ugly was also created for The Little Yellow Duck Project and works up in under an hour. I’m posting the Ugly patterns in three sizes as three separate patterns so that they are easier to read. A Lil Ugly (the next size up), was posted a few days ago. The full size Ugly pattern should be up in the next few days.

A Lil Ugly (left) and an Ultra Mini Ugly (right) for size comparison

Exactly which worsted weight yarn you use makes a big difference in the final size. In the below picture of three different Ultra Mini Uglies, the one on the left is make in Red Heart Super Saver and came out the biggest. The other two use Red Heart Super Saver for the beak and feet only. The two grey ducks were made from ends of balls of yarn I had lying around and I’m not sure what yarn they were made from, but they were worsted weight yarns.

Three Ultra Mini Uglies in Different Types of Worsted Weight Yarn

Even though they were made out of worsted weight yarn, some of the Ultra Mini Uglies I made were too small to be released in the wild with just a Little Yellow Duck tag attached so I added a jump ring and lobster claw which can be found in the jewelry findings section of a craft store. The metal of the ring was easy to bend open and closed with my bare hands and was not difficult to put on the duck. The clasps are fun because you can clip the duck onto gates or wire fences and you do not need to worry about the duck blowing away in the wind. I did add a warning to the LYD tags to remove the metal ring and clasp before giving to a child.

Flatten the head. Your working yarn will be on the left towards the front. Add plastic safety eyes between rows 7 and 8 1 sc apart.

Stuff

Round 10: SC around (8)

Round 11: inc around (16)

Rounds 12: SC around (16)

Round 13: dec around (8)

Round 14: dec (the dec should be in the front center, if it is not, SC until you get to the front center), change to contrasting color, FLO for the rest of the round: in the first stitch (SS, HDC) in the next stitch (DC, HDC), 2 SC, in the next stitch (DC, HDC)

Stuff

Round 15: Change back to main color, SC through both loops, 3 dec in unworked back loop from last round, FO leaving a long tail. (4)

Pull the loose end in contrasting color where the feet ended into the body and tie a knot with the other end of the yarn from the feet. Pull it into the body.

Weave tail from main color through final round and pull tight. Tie knot and pull into body.

Beak (make 1 in contrasting color):

Round 1: CH 1, 4 FSC, turn and SC up other side (8)
Round 2: HDC around (8)
FO leaving long tail
Sew beak onto head. I like to use 3 or 4 longer stitches between the eyes when sewing on the beak.

Wings (make 2 in main color):

You will be working on both sides of the chain.
CH 3, Turn, SC in second chain from hook, inc, continue to work up the other side of the chain working over your end, inc, inc (7)
SS into the first stich and FO
Pull both ends tight

A Lil Ugly – a pocket size duck is the perfect size for The Little Yellow Duck Project. It works up in about an hour but is still large enough for The Little Yellow Duck tag to be tied around it’s neck without falling off. I’ve made the Ugly pattern in 3 sizes. This is the middle size.

Materials:

A little worsted weight yarn in 2 colors. If you use a thinner weight yarn use a C hook or smaller. If you use a bulky or super bulky weight yarn, use a larger hook.
9mm black safety eyes
C or E crochet hook (2.5mm or 3.5mm). The smaller hook will make a smaller Ugly.
Tapestry Needle

Flatten the head. Your working yarn will be on the left towards the front. Add plastic safety eyes between rows 9 and 10 1 sc apart.

Stuff

Round 14: (SC, inc) 6x (18)

Rounds 15-16: SC around (18)

Round 17: (SC, Dec) 6x (12)

Round 18 (and part of 19): SC, dec, (the dec should be in the front center, if it is not, SC until you get to the front center), change to contrasting color, FLO for the rest of the round: in the first stitch (SS, HDC, 2DC) in the next stitch (DC, HDC), 6 SC, in the next stitch (HDC, DC), next stitch (2DC, HDC, SS)

Final Round (starts a few stitches into round 19): Change back to main color, SC through both loops, 5 dec in unworked back loop from last round, FO leaving a long tail. (6)

Stuff

Pull the loose end in contrasting color where the feet ended into the body and tie a knot with the other end of the yarn from the feet. Pull it into the body.

Weave tail from main color through final round and pull tight. Tie knot and pull into body.

Beak (make 1 in contrasting color):

Round 1: CH 1, 5 FSC, turn and SC up other side (10)
Rounds 2-3: SC around (10)
FO leaving long tail
Sew beak onto head. I like to use 3 or 4 longer stitches between the eyes when sewing on the beak.

Wings (make 2 in main color):

You will be working on both sides of the chain.
CH 4, Turn, inc, 3SCinc, inc, continue to work up the other side of the chain working over your end, inc, 3SCinc, inc (14)
SS into the first stich and FO
Pull both ends tight

In case you haven’t heard, April 15 is Little Yellow Duck Day, and yes here in the US taxes are also due (but I’m pretty sure you already heard about that one). To celebrate, along with releasing a bunch of ducks in the Westchester/NYC/CT area (9 were released today including one on the super cute yarn bombed door of Lion Brand Studios), I’ll finally post the patterns for Ugly – a cute little duck in three sizes.

Last July, a few weeks after I started making ducks for The Little Yellow Duck Project, I created my first Ugly. I had planned on posting the pattern right away, but kept tweaking the pattern and rewrote it in a few different sizes. 30 Uglies later, I’m finally ready to start posting. All three patterns should be posted by Wednesday night (unless of course I tweak them some more first).